MREs - Mil niggers opine (foreign military MREs are cool too)

[mr.moon1488]

Best: Older US spaghetti MRE
Main meal was okay, but came with cheez its and normally had this berry cobbler which was pretty good.

Worst: Omelet/meal 4/Vegetarian omelet
It looks, and tastes like a dog's chew toy, and I'm pretty sure if you actually ate it, your shit would bounce off the ground and hit you in the nut-sack.

Spoiler: gross

 

[Dick Pooman]

We talk a lot about MREs in the Steve1989 thread if ya feel like checking it out

Steve1989MREInfo / Steve1989 / Steve Thomas

“It was the grossest thing I've ever tasted, because it literally felt like fire.”-steve1989 this thread is about the man, the legend Steve1989MREInfo. He is famous for trying 80 year old peanut butter. I have no hate or love myself towered him, i just wanted to make this thread because this man...

kiwifarms.net

 

[oldTireWater]

Mid-90's number 11 (Chicken with rice) was best. Number 5 (spaghetti) was pretty good.

Numbers 2, 4, and 12 were to be avoided like poison. BUT, if one were inclined to rape an MRE, then number 4 was pretty good because it came with that fucked up compressed oatmeal bar which was actually kinda good, and it may have had cheese spread as well. I tried number 4 a couple times thinking it couldn't be as bad as I remembered, but it always was.

New MRE's are almost always OK at the worst. Most of them are pretty good.

 

[mr.moon1488]

Mid-90's number 11 (Chicken with rice) was best. Number 5 (spaghetti) was pretty good.

Numbers 2, 4, and 12 were to be avoided like poison. BUT, if one were inclined to rape an MRE, then number 4 was pretty good because it came with that fucked up compressed oatmeal bar which was actually kinda good, and it may have had cheese spread as well. I tried number 4 a couple times thinking it couldn't be as bad as I remembered, but it always was.

New MRE's are almost always OK at the worst. Most of them are pretty good.

I don't remember the number, but the chili one was one of my faves. I think that might have been number 1 when I was in, but can't recall.

The Polish had some of the best MREs for the most part. I wasn't a fan of the canned meats they had, but you could trade them easily, and they had chocolates (like actual hershey's bar like chocolate) in them. Most of them also had a canned stew type meal in them which was awesome.

 

[oldTireWater]

https://www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-menus/

I'm most familiar with series X through XIV, but I've probably tried 25% of every series since then. The freeze dried fruit in the old ones was great, but the fucking nut-cakes were terrible (especially cherry). Pound cake was a real paradigm shift. A "force multiplier" if you will.

 

[mr.moon1488]

https://www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-menus/

I'm most familiar with series X through XIV, but I've probably tried 25% of every series since then. The freeze dried fruit in the old ones was great, but the fucking nut-cakes were terrible (especially cherry). Pound cake was a real paradigm shift. A "force multiplier" if you will.

I didn't know there was an actual generation tracker. The big side dish I always liked were the muffin tops. Even the moldy ones were still at least decent.

@09:30

You mentioned Steve1989, someone needs to tell him that the moist toilets are for cleaning your asshole after the MRE toilet paper fails to leave you clean lol.

 

[The Shadow]

Meals
Rejected by
Ethiopians

 

[JosephStalin]

Have bought TOTMs (Tailored Operational Training Meals) at our commissary. Cost about half of an MRE, but is about 75% of an MRE. Each case has one of 12 menus. The commissary sells individual TOTMs and cases of TOTMs.

 

[Harvey Danger]

Modern MREs are pretty decent. I like the beef ravioli. But always avoid the breakfast options, just do tea/coffee and your previous day's bread ration if you gotta have something.

There's also some kind of ready-made "sandwich" I forget the name of, Strike Rations or something like that. It's a good concept, basically like a Toaster Strudel stuffed with BBQ pork that you can eat while moving. But in practice it tends to be high on the bread and low on the meat.

 

[mr.moon1488]

Modern MREs are pretty decent. I like the beef ravioli. But always avoid the breakfast options, just do tea/coffee and your previous day's bread ration if you gotta have something.

There's also some kind of ready-made "sandwich" I forget the name of, Strike Rations or something like that. It's a good concept, basically like a Toaster Strudel stuffed with BBQ pork that you can eat while moving. But in practice it tends to be high on the bread and low on the meat.

What I don't get about modern MREs is how the army insists on the need for a flame-less ration heater. The idea is that you don't have a flame, which could possibly be visible at night, but the issue is that it's already kinda considered to be a bad practice to eat at night out in the field at least for shit other than snack food.

Fucking around with food at night causes

• Scavenger animals to snoop around your position (e.g. boars, bears, coons, etc)
• Makes additional sound which you don't want at night
• Fumbling through your ruck in low light, which in my experience just causes shit to get lost (is also loud)
• More mess to clean up when you eventually move out
• More motion at night, which really is the biggest thing someone is going to notice in the dead of night

 

[Rafal Gan Ganowicz]

Best are 90's era FreddyChef army (Canadian) ration in a boilbag. Ham omelette. Fucking fantastic. Stole a crate of rations when I left. The ham omellettes, you heat up on the manifold of your callsign and stick in your boots as footwarmers, to open and eat later. Can't do THAT with some POS dehydrated Yank MRE!

 

[Harvey Danger]

What I don't get about modern MREs is how the army insists on the need for a flame-less ration heater. The idea is that you don't have a flame, which could possibly be visible at night, but the issue is that it's already kinda considered to be a bad practice to eat at night out in the field at least for shit other than snack food.

I think the idea is also to avoid the mess and hassle and attention needed to maintain a fire. You can use a bit of water and prop up a flameless heater on any level surface, so you can get hot food while on a rooftop in Iraq, inside a tent in the jungle, inside a barracks, or in the middle of rain/snow storms. You just wait 10 minutes and it's done.

Even if you're using fuel tabs and a folding stove to heat something, you still need to attend the flame, make sure it's outdoors or well ventilated, then deal with a fire that might still be burning when you're ready to go, plus clean up and pack out the stove/pot (everything in modern MREs is disposable).

Interestingly, the Long Range Patrol rations (LRP) designed for use on long treks in the field and behind enemy lines, are dehydrated food that required more water to re-hydrate than the flameless heaters use. And that water has to be food-safe, so either boiled or purified via iodine. I don't know how much they're still used, they show up for sale in MRE overrun sellers from time to time. The company that makes Mountain House now makes them, so they're basically just Mountain House dehydrated entrees in a super-compact packaging.

 

[Mr. Skeltal]

My personal favorite was a breakfast MRE, I forget the number but it was some kind of pork sausage patty with a maple flavored muffin top. The worst one I've ever eaten was a chicken fajita MRE. The chicken itself was fine, it was the sauce that made me queasy. It was this sickly sweet tomato affair that almost convinced me to go hungry that day.

I do remember trading the cheese and peanut butter packets around. One guy in my unit decided to mainline the cheese packets after trading for them. That said, he didn't trade for the crackers, so he just squeezed the packets into his mouth. He was plugged up for something like a week, that cheese spread is like spackle.

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

"I hope there are no more wars so I don't have to eat any of this"

 

[Stoneheart]

German EPAs are good. Type 7 is the best by far. both meals are pretty good. the onlything they lack are something to smoke...

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

MRE's are generally crap. Ultra-processed food that's made shelf-stable for 10 years isn't very healthy or tasty.

Civilians who buy MREs and eat them like it's some sort of tasty treat or to feel like real badass soldier men when they're larping in the woods are pretty funny. Guys like Steve1989 don't count because they're collectors and have a Youtube channel devoted to tasting the stuff.

All that being said most MRE's I've tried have been palatable at worst. I liked the little bottles of Tabasco that were in US MRE's.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Beef stew and for some reason I fiend over MRE crackers and milkshakes. This was over ten years ago so I don't know if the meals have changed.

 

[Dreamland]

Is @mr.moon1488 writing from experience in the army/marines? Or is he seriously eating emergency rations as a daily staple?! In the latter case, please drop those disgusting Meals Requiring Enema before the ER doctor will tell you that you're about to lose 12 inches of bowel.

 

[JosephStalin]

Have tried an MRE or two. Meh.

Our commissary (military grocery store) sells Tailored Operational Training Meals (TOTMs) singly or by the case. TOTMs are much like an MRE, with a few things removed. About 1000 calories vice MRE's 1200-1300. Sell here for $50-55 for case of 12, depending on the manufacturer. MRE's would go for twice as much.

Have eaten one or two TOTMs. Okay, but not for the long-term. Have a couple at home, for whatever.

According to the Army Surgeon General, MREs are supposed to be used for 21 days or less as the primary meal in the field. Fresh/Ultra High Temperature packaged milk (supplement), fresh fruits/vegetables, and fresh bread (enhancements) should also be supplied as soon as possible, as often as possible. First Strike Rations (basically snack foods compactly packed) are to be the primary means of feeding for no more than three days.

The Marines' standard field feeding plan is two hot meals (normally breakfast and dinner) plus one MRE for lunch. The Army's standard field feeding plan is three quality meals daily. They have a wider variety of field rations available to them than the Marines. An interesting note - supplying rations/food to Marines in an active operational area after the 90-day mark is usually an Army mission. The Army has more logistical assets available than do the Marines.

Military rations and military field feeding are very interesting subjects. A little powerlevel - this is a hobby of mine.

An army marches on its' stomach. You can do a search and find a lot of material. Good website - MREinfo.com. They deal with US contemporary rations (MREs/First Strike Ration/MCW/MORE), as well as historical rations, such as the C-ration. International rations are also covered. Good forums on both US and foreign rations. Discuss, review, buy, sell, etc. If you are even thinking about ordering foreign military rations containing meat on eBay, especially Russian rations, to be sent to the USA, be aware that the USDA prohibits the importation of the vast majority of canned meat in these rations. They can and do open up these rations in the mail and remove the offending item(s). They can also file complaints against you. Big thread about it in the foreign ration forum. Some guy had a lot of dealings with the USDA about this. He turned in the offending canned meat and they finally left him alone.

If interested in German WWII rations and field feeding, Jim Pool has put out an outstanding book, in two volumes, Rations of the German Wehrmacht in World War II. Available on Amazon, new and used. May as well buy them new - these books are definitely keepers.

The US Army also has a very extensive ration and field feeding program, first went into top gear during WWII, and has proceeded onward ever since. Check out the Army's "Green Books" on the Quartermaster Corps, including separate volumes for QM Corps activities against the Germans and the Japanese. These books are all downloadable free of charge. Go to history.army.mil. Then click on the time saying U.S Army In World War II. You go to a list. Click on "The Technical Services". From there, you go to Quartermaster Corps.

These days, the Army does their ration research and development at their Natick Soldier Systems Center. Once a ration has been developed, standardized, tested, and ready for issue, units get the rations from the Defense Logistics Agency. Huge operation. DLA provides more than just field rations. They are the primary source for food eaten in military dining facilities, of all services, worldwide. They have contracts out the ass with various vetted providers to service US bases overseas. You can't believe how big a business this is. The military needs to eat their three meals daily. Takes a lot of food -the right types, in the right places, at the right times. If interested, go to https://www.dla.mil/TroopSupport.aspx. From there, click on "What Troop Support Offers", then click on "Subsistence".

As a side note, DLA has partnered with the US Agriculture Department to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for school meal programs in 47 states.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

MRE's are generally crap. Ultra-processed food that's made shelf-stable for 10 years isn't very healthy or tasty.

Civilians who buy MREs and eat them like it's some sort of tasty treat or to feel like real badass soldier men when they're larping in the woods are pretty funny. Guys like Steve1989 don't count because they're collectors and have a Youtube channel devoted to tasting the stuff.

All that being said most MRE's I've tried have been palatable at worst. I liked the little bottles of Tabasco that were in US MRE's.

Real men, like my childhood Boy Scouts troop, cook gourmet meals in the woods.

Scoutmaster refused to do hot dogs or anything similar. We had to actually cook, most of it with Dutch ovens, including things like apple pies.